Abstract:
Each year, thousands of human participants are needed for the research projects conducted by the psychology department. Most of these subjects are provided by the subject pool. The subject pool is a valuable resource because of its diversity and its accessibility; however, it is not without problems. The following experiments examine two of the problems that plague the subject pool. Why do subjects miss their appointments? Most of the researchers in the building tend to believe that subjects are lazy and inconsiderate. Frequently they suggest implementing a punishment system to increase the show rate. Thus the First goal was to determine if subjects really miss experiments because of apathy. A second and related problem is subjects becoming lost in the building and arriving late or failing to arrive for their experiments. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine the best routes in the building for which to design a wayfinding system.
